To provide cellular wireless communication service, a wireless service provider or “wireless carrier” typically operates a radio access network (RAN) that defines one or more coverage areas in which wireless communication devices (WCDs) can be served by the RAN and can thereby obtain connectivity to broader networks such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. A typical RAN may include one or more base transceiver stations (BTSs) (e.g., macro network cell towers and/or femtocells), each of which may radiate to define a cell and cell sectors in which WCDs can operate. Further, the RAN may include one or more base station controllers (BSCs) (which may also be referred to as radio network controllers (RNCs)) or the like, which may be integrated with or otherwise in communication with the BTSs, and which may include or be in communication with a switch or gateway that provides connectivity with one or more transport networks. Conveniently with this arrangement, a cell phone, personal digital assistant, wirelessly equipped computer, or other wireless communication device (WCD) that is positioned within coverage of the RAN can then communicate with a BTS and in turn, via the BTS, with other served devices or with other entities on the transport network.
Wireless communications between a WCD and a serving BTS in a given coverage area will typically be carried out in accordance with one or more agreed air interface protocols that define a mechanism for wireless exchange of information between the WCD and BTS. Examples of such protocols include CDMA (e.g., EIA/TIA/IS-2000 Rel. 0, A (commonly referred to as “IS-2000” or “1×RTT”), EIA/TIA/IS-856 Rel. 0, A, or other version thereof (commonly referred to as “IS-856”, “1×EV-DO”, or “EVDO”)), iDEN, WiMAX (e.g., IEEE 802.16), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), TDMA, AMPS, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, or EDGE, and others now known or later developed.
The air interface protocol will generally define a “forward link” encompassing communications from the BTS to WCDs and a “reverse link” encompassing communications from WCDs to the BTS. Further, each of these links may be structured to define particular channels, through use of time division multiplexing, code division multiplexing (e.g., spread-spectrum modulation), frequency division multiplexing, and/or some other mechanism.
The forward link, for example, may define (i) a pilot channel on which the RAN may broadcast a pilot signal to allow WCDs to detect wireless coverage, (ii) system parameter channels (e.g., a sync channel) on which the RAN may broadcast system operational parameters for reference by WCDs so that the WCDs can then seek network access, (iii) paging channels on which the RAN may broadcast page messages to alert WCDs of incoming communications, and (iv) traffic channels on which the RAN may transmit bearer traffic (e.g., application data) for receipt by WCDs. And the reverse link, for example, may define (i) access channels on which WCDs may transmit “access probes” such as registration messages and call origination requests, and (ii) traffic channels on which WCDs may transmit bearer traffic for receipt by the RAN.
In a conventional CDMA wireless network compliant with the well-known IS-2000 standard, each cell employs one or more carrier frequencies, typically 1.25 MHz in bandwidth each, and each sector is distinguished from adjacent sectors by a pseudo-random number offset (“PN offset”). Further, each sector can concurrently communicate on multiple different channels, distinguished by “Walsh codes.” In doing so, each channel is allocated a fraction of the total power available in the sector. When a WCD operates in a given sector, communications between the WCD and the BTS of the sector are carried on a given frequency and are encoded by the sector's PN offset and a given Walsh code.
When a RAN receives an incoming communication for a WCD, the RAN typically pages the WCD via a paging channel in at least the coverage area in which the WCD last registered. When a cellular wireless communication system seeks to page a WCD (e.g., for an incoming call or for some other reason), a switch in the network may send the page message to numerous base stations in the switch's coverage area, with the hope that when the base stations broadcast the page message, the WCD will receive the page message in one of the associated sectors, and will respond. Further, a switch may be configured to re-send a page in the event that a given attempt to page a WCD fails.
Wireless service providers typically design their wireless networks to comprise a number of partially-overlapping wireless coverage areas. As a WCD that is subscribed to a wireless service provider moves about, the wireless network may hand off the WCD from one wireless coverage area to another. A goal of performing such handoffs is to provide a substantially continuous wireless coverage to the WCD, so that any communication sessions conducted by the WCD are not dropped or degraded due to loss of wireless coverage.